Your Stage : Movie pitch advice. by Debbie Mala

Hi my name is Debbie. I’m new here at not yet a professional and still learning. I do not fully know how to write a screenplay but I do have ideas that I’d like to share and would like some advice. Please excuse the lack of experience (like writing a synopsis or log line) but I do have the idea and notes. I just need learning and adjustments. If anyone could review or look at what I’d got I’d be happy. I will put on here what I have at the moment and please, if anyone has advice, I’d like them. Thanks :) Idea Title: Checkmate Log Line: Gamers and gamblers are gathered from all over the states to battle for their survival in a deadly game of real-life chess where the participants themselves are the game pieces. The last one standing also takes a grand prize of ten million dollars and a chance to meet the organization behind the game. Synopsis: Twenty-five year old Noel Harvard is a highly intelligent con from Beverly Hills that gambles for money and thrills. Becoming too good and bored at winning all the time, he seeks for something more risky to satisfy his thrill. A weekend trip to Vegas reunites himself with a former rival con and hacker, Dominic who now owns an underground casino. After a brief chat, Dominic tells Noel about a rumored dark web called Rebirth that recruits highly skilled gamers and gamblers to play a variety of high stake games. Skeptical but wanting a cheap thrill, Noel teams up with Dominic and invites him back to his mansion to find and hack into Rebirth so they can both play for money. After a few attempts they were able to access Rebirth. Noel waits for the next online poker tournament and kills time playing various games on the site including a game of online chess. After several consecutive wins Noel recieves a message from Rebirth itself congratulating him and inviting him to a chess tournament and an address to meet at in five days. Dominic notes the address and before Noel could reply back, his computer backfires with viruses and explodes, destroying it. Not realizing what dangers they’re up against, excited and angry but eager to track Rebirth, Noel and Dominic go to the address only to be knocked unconscious and kidnapped by a group of mysterious people dressed in black. They are taken to a room in the Rebirth organization with 30 other people who were kidnapped and given a bag with food, water, and a weapon for each person. A man in a red hood calling himself Rebirth appears on a screen and tells the particiants they have 48 hours to complete the game of death chess by each person selecting to be a chess piece on the board in the room. Only one winner survives and wins ten million dollars. No escapes are possible and if you kill without playing, you die. If you refuse to kill, you die. Will Noel give in to kill to satify his thrill or can he outsmart his opponets and the organization with deception and manipulation? The only thing he can do is stay alive and keep staying alive. Type: Movie Primary Genre: Thriller Seondary Genre: Drama Third Genre: Game-Show Checkmate Notes Protagonist: Noel Harvard (24) - Gambler from Beverly Hills, California. - Lives with little sister, mother, housekeeper. - Father is divorced; haven’t heard from him in since he was 16. - Neglecting mother, always busy with work. A lawyer. - Intelligent con. Highly charming, deceptive and manipulative. - Naturally good-hearted. Likes to help people for good (like coning bad people for good people) by using any means necessary. - Bored with life. - Always looking for excitement and thrills which is one the reasons why he got into gambling. - Likes money. Uses it for his little sister for educational and medical expenses. - Would do anything for his sister no matter what. - Doesnt value his life as much as he values his little sister. - Also a skilled gamer. Likes to play games/tricks. - Gets recruited by Rebirth to play in a chess tournament after winning thousands of dollars consecutively on their online web. Antagonist: REBIRTH Organization -leader/creator wears a red hood. -consists of people in black hoods with masks that cover their face except eyes. -highly skilled in intelligence, combat, and language. -always armed. -terrorists -highly sought out organization by the CIA -hosts various death games every year for the past 10 years+ -very good at concealing their identity -knows everything about their victims -non reasonable (such as not listening to victims demands or negotiations) -finds their victims through their own dark web only highly skilled gamers, gamblers, and hackers can find. (Underground gaming and gambling site) -likes to broadcast their “games” to the public via sns 2nd Protagonist: Dominic Rivers (25) -lives with mother and father in Las Vegas, Nevada. Only child. -originally from Beverly Hills but moved because of fathers job as estate agent -former highschool classmate of Noel. -former best friend/rival con of Noel. -Hacker and owner of an underground casino in Vegas -tells Noel about Rebirth as a “rumor” he heard. -secretly knew about Rebirth for four years and secretly searching for the organization after his girlfriend was “invited” to play a game and then disappeared. -has a secret vendetta to take down the Rebirths organization. -gets kidnapped with Noel by Rebirth. Other Characters Liz Harvard (40’s): -Noel Harvard’s mother. -lawyer -rarely at home and neglects her children because she is always busy with her job. -aware of Noel’s gambling activities. -cares for her children but has a hard time expressing herself. Madison Harvard (14): -Noel Harvard’s little sister. -highly intelligent like her brother -very close with the housekeeper than her own mother -has little memory of her father. -suffers from an eye disease that’ll eventually leave her partially blind in the left eye unless she has a transplant. has several surgeries in the process. Chase Harvard (40’s): -Noel and Madison’s father. Liv’s ex husband. -Tech genius and computer engineer from MIT -the ‘red hood leader’ -creator of Rebirth and terrorist -unknowingly recruited his own son at first, to play the death game. -was framed for being a cyber-terrorist that eventually became an actual terrorist -has a grudge against the government. -has a grudge on Liv for not defending him at the time he was framed, eventually divorcing him. -doesn’t trust Noel because he became a deceptive and manipulative con. Reminded him of when he was being framed. -became psychotic and paranoid -believes Rebirth can change lives by bringing out the true characters of people then by death be “reborn” like a spiritual cleanse. -likes to broadcast the players for ‘social suicide’. Renee Westwood (40’s): -the Harvard’s housekeeper -Liv’s good friend -secret agent of the CIA tracking Rebirth’s dark web activities. -grows suspicious after Noel and Dominic disappear after finding out they were contacted by Rebirth. Aaron Cavanagh (50’s): -CIA agent investigating Rebirth and Renee’s superior. -Knows of Noel’s father and has been trying to find him for years because he suspects a connection with Rebirth since the organization was “rumored” to surface right after Chase’s innocence was cleared for being a cyber-terrorist. He still believes he is guilty. -Contacts Liv Harvard a few days after Noel and Dominic disappears and tells her about Rebirth and his suspicions of her ex-husband Chase. Kara Lopez (26): -Dominic’s girlfriend -Rebirth Game player and winner/survivor turned ally of the organization -Knew Dominic was searching for her. -One of Noel and Dominic’s kidnappers. Michael Artwood “Genesis” (29): -famous hacker and gamer known as Genesis -psychopath that lives for thrill and excitement to satisfy boredom like Noel. -former player and winner of Rebirth games. Survivor. -plays again with Noel and Dominic in the real-life death game of chess for fun and to “kill” people. Game concept: The game is a survival game of chess. The players are the pieces (knight, pawns, etc) forced to stand in boxed squares on a big chess board corresponding their chess piece. They are divided by black and white and pick out their game piece by drawings. The players are given 48 hours to complete the game. They are given food, water, and a mystery weapon to kill their opponents. They are given surveillanced time breaks for (bathroom, etc). They are on surveillance 24 hours. They are not allowed to escape or they will be shot or killed by the organization. There can only be one survivor/winner unless a player can find a way to outsmart the game and the organization. The winner can win 10 million dollars and meet the organization. They can either join or leave, but if they leave they will be monitored for the rest of their lives so they can’t do anything to jeopardize the organization (Tell the police, friends, family, internet, etc). The organization holds an annual tournament with a different game every year. They hold a different location every year so they can never be tracked or found even if they broadcast the tournament via SNS.